Quote Originally Posted by Selexin
As with the self-banished Geddie, it was nothing less than the artful
smiles of lovely woman that had driven Johnny Atwood to the desperate
expedient of accepting office under a despised Federal Government
so that he might go far, far away and never see again the false, fair
face that had wrecked his young life.
How can the absence of the indefinite article before lovely woman be justified ?
[quote:3rbzeoi8]Then down the coast, tacking close to shore, slowly swam a little
sloop, white-winged like some snowy sea fowl.
Why there's no "the" before "shore"[/quote:3rbzeoi8]

"Lovely woman" here doesn't refer to a specific woman but rather to all lovely women, so no article is needed; it's like a collective noun. Both Geddie and Johnny had been driven, in a sense, by the whole body of lovely womanhood, even though the actual woman was an individual.
Using shore without an article is a peculiarity of that word, very common in the spoken language. It sounds very east coast US to me. People even say "I'm going down the shore" rather than "...to the shore."